


Magnum Opus

by WildConcerto



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, F/M, I hate myself, Reylo Monster Week, Witch!Rey, the ahs coven/dark shadows crossover literally no one asked for, vampire!Kylo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 15:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16410695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildConcerto/pseuds/WildConcerto
Summary: Rey, a clanless witch, desperate to gain the other covens' respect, goes on a quest to discover the secrets of the one forbidden substance for all witches and warlocks: the Philosopher's Stone, a quest for which the great warlock Luke Skywalker has mysteriously disappeared, plunging his family into disgrace. Death may await her, but for Rey, that did not include more or less accidentally waking up a two-century old vampire...





	Magnum Opus

**Author's Note:**

> And this is my contribution for the vampire-themed day 1 of Reylo Monster Week! I'm not sure whether I'll continue this or not, but since this was a lot of fun to write, I might ;) So tell me what you think!

It was like the beginning of a terrible old horror film: the rain falling hard, but since there wasn’t enough of a budget for convincing enough lightening, they’d have to do without. Rey’s umbrella was barely enough to keep her from getting wet, but it was still something. Whatever manuscripts or books she’d find in her quest were too precious for her to spoil them with rainwater.

The wind was however merciless, and Rey’s all-black raincoat, dress and boots weren’t enough to protect her against the weather while she held onto her hat. The only thing that seemed to hold on was her backpack, and she could hear Beebee-Ate meowing in distress. Thankfully for her familiar, the long-abandoned manor’s silhouette finally drew itself on the horizon, and Rey sighed in relief.

“We’re almost there, Beebee-Ate, don’t worry,” said Rey as to encourage him, although the sole response he gave her was the cat equivalent of an exasperated groan. Rey hurried, not wanting to have him wait any longer.

The old manor had been abandoned for two centuries now – ever since the Skywalker clan had faced a blight so terrible no witch or warlock dared to speak of it back in its time: nowadays, it was a forgotten legend, almost a story you’d tell children to scare them into obedience. There were whispers of forbidden blood magic, lurid details about human sacrifices, with blood too copious and scarlet in every single tale, and silhouettes of the undead creeping behind your back, sending a chill down your spine.

Rey was afraid as she pushed the door to the old Skywalker manor, but bravery, she mused, was all about doing the brave thing and hoping bravery would follow. Closing her umbrella and leaving it near the door, she quickly put her backpack on the ground, unzipping it to let Beebee-Ate spring out of it and proceed to groom himself right away. Rey, on the other hand, had no time for such trivial matters: she needed to be back by dawn, before the coven would notice her absence.

She lit up a flashlight she had brought with her and, with Beebee-Ate in toll, she made her way through the manor. The floor creaked beneath her steps, and the cobwebs and dust made the whole setting truly look like a haunted house. What Rey needed to look for was anything that appeared to hide some secrets: Luke Skywalker would have never left his findings in a place where anyone could steal them forever.

As she walked into the long-abandoned study, with quills, ink and a few sheets of paper still on the desk, the sight of the many shelves full of dusty books made Rey sigh at the sight of the work awaiting her: for all she knew, perhaps clues for her quest were lying somewhere in them. It probably meant she’d have to come many more nights in the creepy old manor: the pain was worth it, but she could only hope no one would notice her nocturnal escapades: it was the last thing she needed right now, among all her troubles.

As she walked towards the back of the study, Beebee-Ate head towards the carpet between the desk and the shelves, meowing with eagerness.

It didn’t take much for Rey to understand what her familiar was trying to tell her: kneeling, she swiftly removed the carpet from its spot on the floor, a large cloud of dust going up at the same time and making her cough. But it was worth it: a trap door was encased in the wooden floor.

It was too good of a discovery for Rey to leave it there unexplored. When she pulled it up, it seemed so much lighter than she expected it to be. Grabbing her flashlight and gathering what little courage she still had in her, she made her way down into the deeps of the manor.

The stone walls and arcs surrounding her reminded Rey of an old, abandoned church, imprisoning prayers and pleas uttered long ago, but which hadn’t reached the ears of their Maker yet as they were trapped underground. Sensing her nervousness, Beebee-Ate strutted ahead of her, as if he was ready to face whatever demon would be awaiting them at the end of the corridor.

There was, thankfully, no monster awaiting them: the corridor led to what appeared to be a crypt, with what seemed to be a large, rectangular wooden chest in the middle. Coming closer, Beebee-Ate hissed and headed back towards the end of the crypt, frightened, urging Rey to follow him. In another situation, Rey would have probably trusted her familiar’s always reliable instincts, but this time… this time was different.

A soft melody, never heard and yet so familiar, played gently in her mind. It was an old lullaby she remembered singing to herself, back in those days where she was alone, to make up for the oppressing silence: _Mirrorbright,_ she remembered with a smile, and, as if she couldn’t control her legs anymore, she slowly made her way towards the large chest…

… which appeared to be, in fact, shaped like a coffin rather than rectangular.

In a trance, Rey didn’t hear Beebee-Ate mewling behind her, begging her to come back. Putting her flashlight on the ground, she pushed the lid open, and she gasped in surprise as she saw what – or rather who was inside.

It was a young man, but in his peaceful slumber, he almost looked like a boy.  

He was dressed all in black save for his white tie, in a similar fashion as the men from the period dramas Rose and Paige loved so much. He wouldn’t have been considered handsome by many, but there was something, _something_ about his large nose, angular face and lips perused in a childish pout. His eyelashes were long, and for a split second, Rey wondered how his eyes looked like when they were open, how his voice sounded when he spoke…

The lullaby somehow became louder, and more seductive, and in a near trance, Rey found herself lowering her head towards the young man’s and, unable to control herself, she kissed him, oblivious to how ice cold his lips felt against hers.

The cold contact brought her back to her senses. She quickly got up, taking a few steps back, her cheeks red and her ears burning in embarrassment, trying to make sense of what had just happened despite the daze. As she looked down at the young man again, she noticed his eyes had opened, and he was staring right at her.

 _Fuck,_ Rey thought, but this wasn’t the last of her troubles that night.

His half-opened mouth as he stared at her, still aghast, let her see two white canines way too long for the average human: it didn’t take long for Rey and her quick reflexes to associate the fangs with the ice cold lips she had kissed earlier, the near trance she had been before, to remember those myths she had heard about in the coven.

 _Vampire,_ Rey whispered to herself, and she knew it was a matter of seconds before the monster would lunge towards her, draining her of her blood, and either kill her or enslave her. Neither alternative was appealing, and Rey needed to get out of the crypt – _now._

Without thinking for even a second, a fireball materialized in Rey’s hand, which she threw at her opponent. The vampire deflected it just in time, letting out a muffled cry. Rey, meanwhile, had already started running out of the crypt, and back upstairs, a panicked Beebee-Ate in toll.

They rushed out of the study, heading for the entrance. Rey could only hope the vampire had been frightened enough by the fire not to not bother following his almost prey.

As she came in front of the doors in the main hall, they closed in front of her, and despite pushing them as hard as she could, her efforts were useless: she was imprisoned.

She turned around in a panic, seeing the vampire only a few feet away from her, his gaze neither threatening nor reveling in her fright. There was—curiosity. And perhaps a hint of amusement, but nothing menacing about it.

There was no time, however, for her to figure out if it was genuine or just a facade. With a feral scream as an attempt to appear a tad more intimidating, Rey threw yet another fireball at him. This time, he didn’t escape it – rather, with a wave of his hand, the ball of fire became ice, crashing on the ground into a million pieces.

So the vampire was probably a warlock before being turned. Things were just getting better and better.

“For an intruder, you certainly act like you’re the mistress of this house,” he said, his voice deep, almost warm. But Beebee-Ate’s aggressive hissing stopped Rey from being distracted.

“I’ll fight my way out if it’s necessary,” she replied, defiant.

“I have no doubt you would, but I’m not particularly keen on the idea of you burning the manor down with those fireballs of yours,” the vampire dryly said. “But I suppose I have a right to ask why a young lady such as yourself would come here alone at night.”

“None of your business,” Rey hissed.

“All right, then,” he replied, raising his eyebrows. “I’ll ask the questions. If you persist to remain silent, I will get the answers from you regardless. And while it seems like you want me to suffer your trespassing, I do wish to spare you the pain of me intruding in your memories.”

Rey crossed her arms, scowling at the vampire. “Fine. But you let me go after I answer your stupid questions, Dracula. Deal?”

“You have my word as a gentleman,” agreed the vampire with a bow. “First, who’s Dracula?”

For a moment, Rey started at him in disbelief. _How long_ had that guy been sleeping? Judging by his clothes, he probably last walked around in the 19th century. Perhaps he had been in that coffin even before Bram Stoker was born.

It was a miracle he wasn’t so bloodthirsty after sleeping for so long… unless he was toying with her.

_No. No, don’t panic. This is not the right time to panic. You need to figure out a way to get out. Don’t do anything stupid._

“Cultural reference,” Rey finally replied, praying whatever gods out there for strength. “It’d be too long to explain.”

“Fair enough. What year are we?”

“2018… I mean, how long have you been in there if you don’t even know who Dracula is?”

The vampire didn’t reply: instead, he stared at nothing, his lower lip slightly trembling as if he was holding back tears. He gulped, clenching his fists.

“I’ve been asleep since 1821,” he muttered. “And during all this time… who knows what happened?”

So many questions pressed themselves in Rey’s mind: the matter of how his place of rest was the old Skywalker manor, and, on a broader scale, what was his life before being frozen in time? Those were all mysteries that would have to remain unsolved – that is, if she wanted to get out of the manor alive.

“What happened to the people who lived here?” he asked. “Do you know?”

Rey hesitated. “Nothing much. There have been so many stories over the years… Luke Skywalker disappeared all of a sudden. No one knows what happened to him. All I know is that something... bad happened. I don't know what it was.”

“He had a family, didn’t he?” he insisted. “A sister? His sister had a family as well.”

“Yes. I—I know Leia Organa was Supreme for a time. But—no one dares to talk about her. I know she and her husband died, and their child, too—but I don’t know how. The circumstances didn’t seem too pleasant at least.”

“You don’t know how? What do you mean, _you don’t know how?_ ” For a moment, his eyes were flaming, and his fangs became a tad too visible to Rey’s liking. He made a visible yet difficult attempt to calm down.

“And you?” he asked. “What’s your name?”

“Rey.”

“Rey. Rey who? Of what clan?”

“None of your business.”

“It becomes my business when you enter my manor like a thief,” he growled. “I suppose you came here because of Luke Skywalker’s quest, am I wrong?”

Rey didn’t reply, biting her lips and staring at the ground.

“Of course you did. You’re not the first trespasser to come here, you know. I’ve had thieves come here over the years, waking me up. I could never get a word out of them because I was too thirsty to care. That was my curse. Waking up with an insatiable blood lust every time a trespasser came by and going immediately back to sleep after feeding. Only someone with magic could save me. And you came. But why?”

He started pacing around her, but Rey forced herself to not look at him, afraid of letting him see any weakness of hers. Beebee-Ate hissed again, but Rey shushed him softly. Now was not the time to attack - at least, not yet. “So what was Luke Skywalker’s quest all about? ‘I don’t know’ won’t do, by the way.”

“The One Ring.”

“Oh please. I have no idea what this One Ring is, and I know the correct answer. Playing smart won’t help you.”

Rey sighed in frustration. “Fine. The Philosopher’s Stone. He was trying to figure out the secrets to immortal life.”

“Ah. Finally reasonable. And why the Philosopher’s Stone? How can one be so foolish to still search for it, unless—”

Rey’s head shot up, her gaze pleading. She didn’t need to hear the word, especially not from him.

“—unless you have to prove yourself,” he continued, nonetheless. “Unless you’re _clanless_.”

She had heard that word so many times, sometimes mocking, sometimes pitiful, sometimes disdainful. This time, somehow, it was the worst of them all. Not because of anger, nor shame: but she felt… naked, as if she was left without any kind of protection against the rest of the world.

A slight cough brought her back to reality: looking up, the vampire was handing one of those old-fashioned handkerchiefs everyone had a long time ago. She huffed in embarrassment, shaking her head, straightening up in a poor attempt to toughen up.

“I’m not crying,” she muttered, her throat tightening anyway despite herself.

He rolled his eyes. “I was just trying to be helpful.”

Rey sighed, crossing her arms. “So what are you going to do now? Do I become lunch, or do I become a scantily-dressed bloodsucker?”

He stared at her for a moment, probably holding back a biting reply – biting as in “snarky”, of course. Or perhaps not. As Rey was getting tense again, he sighed.

“I’m not especially keen on your familiar attacking me,” he replied.

“You’re scared of Beebee-Ate?” asked Rey, mocking.

“No,” he said, rolling his eyes. “If you think I’d ever come to hurt your familiar, you’re wrong. I know what it is to lose your own.”

“So you were a warlock before?”

“No questions,” he snapped, tense enough to have Rey not want to insist. “But I do owe you a favor. You broke the curse.”

“So you’ll let me go?”

“Better,” he replied, with what almost looked like a smile, something a bit rusty due to how seldom it was used. “I know you’ll trespass here again. And since I can’t stand trespassers, I suggest you be my guest instead.”

Rey narrowed her eyes. “I don’t trust you.”

“I don’t expect you to,” he said bluntly, taking Rey by surprise. “But your research will be a lot easier if I help you.”

“How?”

“I know which books will be useful for you. I also know where Skywalker’s writings are, and I know how to translate them. He used a mix of Ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin that can be quite hard to decipher. Unless you know all three languages thoroughly, of course.”

His help was almost too good to be true – Rey almost wanted to ask him how “thorough” the research would be if he selected whatever information she’d come across. Translating Luke Skywalker’s journals, if they really were the way he described, would be an impossible task for her. Rey had learned Latin, like every witch or warlock, but the other languages were all mysteries for her. And of course, she couldn’t allow anyone else to know what she was up to.

The vampire really was her best chance, whether she liked it or not. And in any case, if she noticed over time he was hiding knowledge from her, she’d investigate by herself, all the while hoping he wouldn’t find out.

There was another matter, though.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “And how do you know all this?”

His features darkened. “Those are two questions I will not answer. And it’ll be my sole condition. Do we have a deal?”

Rey held back a sigh of frustration. There _was_ something up, perhaps even more intriguing than Luke Skywalker and his mysterious quest for the Philosopher’s Stone. But all those secrets would unveil to her in due time, no matter what obstacles would come.

“Deal. But I’d like to know your name.”

He had another of his almost smiles. “Kylo Ren,” he said with a bow, and Rey had to refrain from giggling. It probably wasn’t the only old-fashioned quirk he had…

From that moment, against all logic, it seemed to Rey all of this might just work. Or perhaps it was just her curiosity boiling within, whispering to her that there was more to Kylo Ren and the manor, and that if he remained obstinate in his silence… she’d find out soon enough.

 


End file.
